


Valentines Detective Agency: Tales from the Upper Stands

by BforBlythe



Series: Nick Valentines Detective Agency [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4, Nick Valentine - Fandom
Genre: Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 09:50:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5739082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BforBlythe/pseuds/BforBlythe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Nick Valentine, I am a private investigator living in Diamond City and I’m a synthetic human. What you are about to read come's from this city’s people, these are their stories and my cases.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentines Detective Agency: Tales from the Upper Stands

Diamond City, the great green jewel of the Commonwealth. The safest place this far-east a lot of people say, I know this city well and she knows me.  
But as safe as it is, these green walls can’t protect its residents from the one thing more dangerous than a deathclaw, humans.  
Where-ever people are, death and misery follow them like a sickly puppy. It’s just human nature and no amount of swatter wielding guards can stop that.

Nuclear apocalypse changed the human race, but not completely. I can remember a time before all this…So much colour and noise, more life and virtually no irradiated water. All that changed, but something’s never change, a human’s capacity to love is prime example. Love can ultimately destroy a person, and that person in turn can destroy anything because of it. And that’s where I come in.

It was Monday morning and my desk was strangely empty, my files were all gone and my cigarettes were all neatly arranged next to a clean ashtray and my lighter. Ellie had been cleaning again, I called out to my assistant from my desk, “Ellie! You in?” The silence in my office/home was only disturbed by the creaking of my chair. I shook my head and began searching for my files in the filing cabinets, I had just found a current case file when the office door was pushed open and a slender figure stepped in.  
It was a women, she was old but youthful in her movements toward me. She dressed well, too well for any resident of Diamond City’s lower stands. I had a feeling that this job would pay well, whatever is was.  
She took a seat and stared me right in the eye, this caught me off guard, my amber eyes usually put people off, but she was transfixed. “So you’re Nick Valentine” her voice was stained by rare 200 year old liquor and stale tobacco, “That I am, miss?” I inquired as I sparked up my first cigarette of the day. “Please, call me Smith, Mrs Smith” her voice gave nothing away, she guarded every inch of herself and knew it. “So Mrs Smith, I’m guessing you don’t want your visit here published in next month’s issue of Publick Occurrence’s?” I wasn’t manufactured yesterday, she was obviously a resident of the upper stands and a member of the Diamond City Elite and any mention of her day trip down into the city could be disastrous to her reputation. I’ll indulge her.

I leaned forward and gave her my full attention, “So Mrs Smith, you’re first time in Diamond City? Don’t worry, you get used to the smell”, she gave me a smile which came across as a grimace, “how can I help you?” She reached into her bag and produced a rectangular box, on closer inspection it looked like an old world military ammunition box. She placed it on the table, “I’m sorry but caps are the only payment I accept, not ammunition.” She looked me right in the eye and removed the lid from the container, inside were row upon row of pristine looking caps. “There are 200 caps in this container, I have 10 more of these containers ready for you if you accept and complete this contract”, her husky voice seemed to know all this by heart, as she had written a script before coming in. I needed to keep my head, that was a lot of money she was offering and it could go a long way toward helping the business.  
“You don’t ask a lot of questions for a private eye, Mr Valentine.” She said in an almost condescending tone. “I like to get the feel for my clients before taking on a new job, but you’re a difficult one to figure out.” I took a long drag of my cigarette and exhaled toward the air vents, blowing smoke in a client’s face isn’t considered to be good business practice.  
She produced her own cigarette and continued her speech, “I want you to discretely find out where my husband has been sneaking off to every Tuesday evening, because it’s not the Colonial Taphouse like he told me” her voice finally showed some emotion when she mentioned her husband’s lies. I was relieved, she came across as far too calculated and machine like, it was nice to see that she was human after-all, but there was something about her which wouldn’t let me relax.  
She tapped her cigarette into my ashtray and stubbed it out. “Are you up for the job, Detective?” her tone of voice meant business, time for me to join her. “Consider your case accepted, Valentines Detective Agency will help you” standing as I took the job, I held out my hand to shake on the agreement, call me old fashioned but I prefer this to a signature. Mrs Smith stood to receive the shake, not breaking eye contact once she rose up and clasped hands with me, it was a firm shake for someone her age and build. I motioned for her to sit again and I produced a blank file from the desk draw. “Let’s begin, tell me everything…” she took one last drag on her cigarette and behind her exhaled smoke I saw her produce a photo of her husband, she slid it across the table and the story began.


End file.
